Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar visited Somaliland on Tuesday for the first official visit since Israel recognized the breakaway state last month, where he met with Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi and other top officials, Sa’ar’s office and Somaliland’s presidency confirmed.

“A delegation led by the Israel Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar landed at the Hargeisa town, he was received at the airport by senior government officials. He had meetings with the Somaliland top officials,” the presidency said in a statement.

Sa’ar’s office confirmed that the foreign minister would be meeting with Somaliland’s Foreign Minister Abdirahman Dahir Adam, Presidential Affairs Minister Hader Hussein Abdi, and Chief of Staff Nimsan Yusuf Osman.

“Unlike ‘Palestine,’ Somaliland is not a virtual state,” Sa’ar said alongside Abdullahi, in remarks released by the Foreign Ministry. “It’s a functioning state. Somaliland is a fully functioning country based on the principles of international law.”

“Somaliland is, and has been, a stable democracy for nearly 35 years,” he added. “It has democratic elections, most recently in November 2024, and peaceful transitions of power. It’s pro-Western and friendly to Israel.”

Late last month, Israel became the first country to recognize the Republic of Somaliland as an independent state, more than three decades after the African region broke away from Somalia.

Today, at the Presidential Palace, I received @gidonsaar H.E. Mr. Gideon Sa’ar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, and a high-level delegation on an official visit to the Republic of Somaliland, the first such visit by a foreign minister in 34 years. I conveyed… pic.twitter.com/AQfntPBnZC

— Cabdiraxmaan Cirro (@Abdirahmanirro) January 6,........

© The Times of Israel